Toilet or utility case of leather or like material



TOILET OR UTILITY CASE 011 LEATHER OR LIKE MATERIAL Feb. 7, 1939.

| G. STANLEY Filed Jan. 19, 1937 INVENTOR' [so/ 040 GUST/N455? BY 1M KM M ATTORNEYS Patented Feb. 7, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE TOILET on UTILITY CASE OFLEATHER on LIKE MATERIAL 1 Claim.

This invention is a novel toilet or utility case of leather or like material. It is of the general class adapted for travel use, or for similar toilet or personal use, to contain light equipment or property, with a box member and a cover member and means of securely closing it, but leaving it quickly accessible. Being composed of leather or similar pliable or limp material it is distinguished from the diiferent class of article consisting of a rigid box with hinged cover, such article being less convenient for packing or stowing away and not practically adapted to being closed securely by a continuous or zipper type of fastening means.

16*. There is already well known a toilet or utility box composed entirely of leather and wholly limp or flexible, and with a hinged cover and a continuous or zipper fastening means. In practical use however such all-flexible case is subject to 20 disadvantages. The article as a whole is liable to be too pliable and soft, so that when packed in baggage it is subject to crushing and possibly injury of contents. The hinge moreover between the box member and the cover is not steady and 25 effective because it is formed at the top of a wall which is pliable, so that the hinge is not mechanically effective and durable. Further, the well known difficulty in starting the zipperclosing operation is enhanced by the unsteady character 30 of the back wall at which the operation commences.

The objects of the present invention are to afford all of the advantages of the generally flexible type of case while avoiding the above mentioned objections. A further object is to afford a utility or toilet case which is compact, neat and attractive, also convenient in use and inexpensive of manufacture. A particular object is to afford a vertical rigidity at the critical point or 40 back wall, thus giving the article as a whole a substantial degree of strength against crushing, as when the case is packed with other goods. A

further object is to afford an article of the class referred to having a construction wherein the 45 wall upon which the hinge is located is rigid and tween a rigid box and a completely flexible onev and which avoids the disadvantages and attains the advantages of both. More particularly the invention consists in the novel combination and construction hereinafter described or disclosed 5 in the drawing.

In the accompanying drawing Fig. 1 is a perspective view of'a toilet case or analogous case composed of leather or similar pliable material, showing the same in open position and with ap- 10 propriate contents.

Fig. 2 is a front elevation and partial longitudinal section taken on the line 22 of Fig. 3, the case being shown closed and empty.

Fig. 3 is a vertical transverse section looking from the right taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a perspective of a rigid reinforcing plate or angle piece.

The case or utility box comprises in general a box member 5 and a cover member 6, composed of leather or similar flexible or limp material as is desirable in this class of article. In Fig. l the box is shown as containing various articles 1 such as brushes, tubes, razor and the like, compactly arranged, and at the inner side of the cover are shown suitable articles 8, as comb, file, etc., held in place by a strap 9. Other light or personal articles or property may be similarly accommodated or stowed in box or cover.

The box member 5 is composed of a bottom wall [0 which is fiat so that the case may rest flatwise upon a table or other support. The box member has also upright walls around the periphery of the box, namely, in the case of a square box, around the two ends and two sides. Thus there is shown a back wall II, a front wall l2,

a right end wall I3 and a left end wall M. The box may be other thanquadrilateral, e. g. pentagonal, with one side as a back wall.

In the drawing the sectional showing of vari- 4o ous plies or layers of material is exaggerated to facilitate disclosure. The exact arangement of plies is not essential, so long as there are interior plies or linings covered both outside and inside the box by presentable material, needing no detail description.

The cover member it is shown hinged to the box member 5 at the hinge line I5 located at the top edge of the hinge or back wall ll, so that the cover can freely swing up and down as shown in the several figures. It is important in this class of article to secure the case at its periphery,

i. e., around its ends and front side when closed, and for this purpose there is shown a continuous fastening, typically represented by the well known zipper fastening. Thus one of the two complementary portions 56 of the zipper fastening is shown applied around the top edges of the peripheral walls I2, l3 and it. The other zipper member I! is arranged correspondingly around the under side of the cover member, where a slight flange or tape I8 is preferably provided for the application of the zipper fastener. A looking means or runner I9 is shown in Figs. 1 and 2 by which the continuous fastener may be fastened or unfastened in a well known manner.

As already described the peripheral walls, except the hinge wall, namely, the end walls l3 and Hi and the front side wall l2 of the box member, are limp or flexible so that the article as a whole partakes of the flexible character. In distinction however to having all four walls flexible or limp, with the present invention, the back side wall is rendered rigid and vertically stiii by a suitable rigid means or metal plate or angle piece embodied therein. This feature is illustratively shown as afforded by an angle iron Ell composed of stiff plate material or metal, as sheet iron, with a horizontal leg or part 2! and an upright leg or part 22, the former being embedded or concealed in the bottom Ill of the box and the latter being embedded or concealed within the upright back wall H. An extra covering piece or leather pad 23 may be embodied in the back wall coextensive with or larger than the upright part 22 of the rigid angle piece.

By the described arrangement and structure a contrast is afiorded between the back or hinge Wall and the other peripheral upright walls of the box. The case as a whole is generally flexible as is desirable, whereas the wall ii upon which the cover member is hinged is rigid and therefore steady and upright. The article thus produced may be considered as semi-flexible, and it has advantages absent from a case that is completely flexible and absent from a case that is completely rigid. The stifi and upright back wall protects the case against crushing, giving sufficient stability to the case as a whole for practical protection, as when packing the case within a suitcaseor other baggage, without losing its desirable generally limp and easily handled character. The case as a whole preserves its character and shape, whereas an all-pliable case tends gradually to flatten and wrinkle in an unsightly manner. The rigid vertical back wall afiords a steady fulcrum for the hinge of the cover, rendering the hinge action both more efficient and durable. Moreover the rigid back wall affords a solid and firm basis for the operation of the zipper, especially in the starting of the runner for the opening and closing of the case, an operation not free from manual difliculty.

In practical use the toilet case of this invention is found to possess a desirable and salable character not existing in otherwise similar cases. The article may be described as semi-flexible, being in this respect an improvement over either a completely stiff case or a completely limp one. In the matter of manufacture the invention hereof has the advantage that it is inexpensive to construct. Leather or leather substitutes and ordinary limp or soft filling may be used for three of the upright walls, at minimum expense; while for the stiiiening of the back wall only a single inexpensive angle iron is necessary, embedded in the bottom and back wall.

I claim:

A utility box of leather or similar limp material consisting oi the box body of substantial depth adapted to rest flatwise on a support and a connected flat shallow box cover, with fastening means on the box body and cover members to secure them together when closed; said box body having a flat bottom and upstanding peripheral walls of substantially the full depth of the box extending entirely and continuously around the front and the ends and the back side of the box, such front and end walls being relatively flexible by reason of the limp material of which they are composed, but there being a stifi plate embodied in said upstanding back wall with a right-angled extension into said flat bottom thereby to render the back wall rigid verticaliy as compared with the other walls; and the box cover being hinged at its back edge to the top edge of such rigidly upstanding back wall of the box body; whereby the utility box as a whole is flexible whereas the rigid rear wall of the box body presents a steady hinge mounting for the box cover.

LEOPOLD G. STANLEY. 

